Are you a prospective college student? The White House is busy figuring out the details for their new plans for the education system that could have a direct impact on YOUR future. The proposal, called The , is slated to involve spending billions of dollars of federal money.

Last week, President Obama revealed his plans to re-invent and re-vamp America’s workforce by improving the community college system. But how does the President intend to foot the bill for these new education initiatives? In an effort to re-train unemployed workers and prepare the US workforce for an increasingly competitive global economy, he has proposed a $12 billion dollar plan that would hopefully help 5 million more Americans earn college degrees and certificates by 2020.

If this proposal is approved by Congress, education building and technology upgrades would receive $2.5 billion, $9 billion would go towards helping to increase student success, and $500 million would be pumped into grants that are designed to help develop online courses. “In the coming years, jobs requiring at least an associate degree are projected to grow twice as fast as jobs requiring no college experience,” Obama said. “We will not fill those jobs — or keep those jobs on our shores — without the training offered by community colleges.”

If the President gets his way, here is a break-down of how the money will be spent:

Community college grants – the White House wants community colleges to pursue relationships with business partners so that students and employers can coordinate future jobs or internships. Among other projects, the federal money would go towards career placement programs, adult education, and improving advising services

College access and completion fund – the goal of this program is to help more students complete college and avoid high drop-out rates. The government plans to develop programs that would track student progress, graduation rates, and employment results.
Improving campus buildings – $2.5 billion would be spent on improving the facilities of community college campuses across the nation

Developing more online classes – based on research that online education helps to make teaching more effective, this proposal involves opening 20-25 web-based courses for high school and college students. These career-oriented courses would be completely free to students.

So, what’s wrong with all of these goals? Supporters of community college programs applaud the plan as being an important step in the right direction towards improving education standards. Two-year associate’s programs have traditionally received less funding than their four-year counterparts, so the federal funding is definitely needed to train the future workers of America!

Andy Van Kleunen, executive director of The Workforce Alliance, argued that “most of these jobs will require some kind of technical training past high school, but not necessarily a four-year degree. Community colleges are a logical place to begin to address that middle-skill workforce demand. They are a tremendously undervalued resource.”

Critics of Obama’s education plan retort that federal money should be spend reducing the debt and deficit of current students—not attempting to fund new programs. “Can we find someone who will put us into debt for decades to come?”, former state Rep. Leon Drolet, head of the Macomb County Taxpayers Association, asked a crowd. “Yes we can,” the crowd roared back.

As students and borrowers of student loans, how do YOU think the federal education money should be spent?